Category Archives: Parents

An important call for hope. Please send your stories.

Parents, VidAngel Studios

Hello friends,

I’ve been feeling like I should share a little book that our family made to remember digging out of the 2008 market crash. As I thought this week about the tough times we’re in, and what potentially lies ahead, I recorded a quick video I would love you to check out.

I also invite you to share your own story with others to help others get through the difficult times.

If you have a story that would be a fit for our #NeverFailed series, please make a quick video and submit it here. The proceeds raised from your submission can be donated to the charity of your choice.

Thank you so much for your support.

Sincerely,

Neal Harmon
Co-Founder and CEO

No Joke: Two Exciting Announcements

Parents, Press, VidAngel Studios

Hi VidAngel Fans,

We know these past few weeks haven’t been easy. People all over the world are struggling under the weight of health concerns, changing work situations, helping their children with their education, and trying to find peace in this challenging time.

We want to help how we can, so I have two announcements I’m really excited about:

First, I’m happy to announce that VidAngel will continue to be free for the entire month of April. No credit card required, all we ask is that you agree to practice social distancing (and to give bigger hugs when all this is over).

Second, we’ve just launched a brand new show I think you’re going to love. The Riot and the Dance: Water is an absolutely gorgeous nature documentary that shows the beautiful and miraculous aspects of aquatic wildlife from a faith perspective. When I watched this show with my family, it had all of us in awe, from my seventeen-year-old down to my two-year-old.

We hope you’ll enjoy this free month of filtering with VidAngel. If you are in need of a laugh, I highly recommend our Dry Bar Comedy specials. If you could use a spiritual boost, I hope you’ll consider our fantastic original series, The Chosen. If you could use something educational for your kids while school is out, we think you’ll really enjoy Chasing American Legends and Beyond the Stars.

If you could use a little of all these things, you will love The Riot and the Dance: Water.

Thank you for enjoying VidAngel in your homes.

 

Sincerely,

Neal Harmon

Co-Founder & CEO

 

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#GenerosityChallenge Increases Our Growth Rate by 50x

Parents, Press

While the government debates over how to solve the medical and economic implications of what’s currently happening to our country, we at VidAngel instituted a company-wide work from home program last week, and Monday morning we invited our customers to help.

 

In exchange for an agreement to practice social distancing (and give bigger hugs when this is all over), we are providing access to our entire offering for free, without a credit card. It was the least we could do to help families out. 

 

It makes me uncomfortable to share these numbers, and I don’t want it to come across as bragging or taking advantage of this situation, but I am sharing these hoping other entrepreneurs are inspired to speed to a solution faster. Here’s the initial two day numbers:

 

 

Obviously, we’re just a few companies. Our impact today is small, but the percentage response rate is HUGE. And those who are doing this realize now that this is a mutually beneficial proposition. We’re helping people out and they’re helping us grow. That’s the way American entrepreneurship should work.

 

People are anxious. People are scared. The economy is tanking before our eyes. 

 

Social distancing is a scary prospect when people are worried about their jobs. Aside from health, fear in general is high across the country. People are worried about family members, income, and how to cope with kids being at home instead of in school. We have an opportunity to quell public concerns and replace fear with hope. 

 

If enough of us collaborate together, at a faster rate than any governmental consensus can be reached, we can stave off the spread of disease, help calm the anxiety of those in need, and hopefully, prevent the debacle of our economic system.

 

With Forbes and the #GenerosityChallenge, we invite other companies to figure out how to help those stuck in their homes and beat COVID-19 the American way, through economic ingenuity. Linda.com, MasterClass, big streaming companies, and others, who will help conquer this? The mutual benefit is real, please help us scale this idea to as many web businesses as possible.

How you can help Senator Mike Lee update the Family Movie Act

Filtering, Legal Battle, Parents, Technology

Senator Mike Lee is preparing to introduce an update to the Family Movie Act in the Senate. This important message from the CEO of VidAngel, Neal Harmon, and a letter from the President of the Parents Television Council, Tim Winter, explains how you can help.

Video Message from VidAngel:
(Can’t see the video? Click here.)

Letter from Parents Television Council:

As a parent, nothing is more important than protecting a child’s innocence.

And, as a veteran of the entertainment industry, the truth is that there are many in Hollywood who are actively engaged in creating content that strips that innocence away from our kids, damaging lives forever.

You know this already, that’s why you use and support VidAngel, because its incredible content filtering technology protects your family. The Parents Television Council wants to protect your right to filter out the graphic sex, violence and profanity that is so pervasive in today’s media, but I need your help.

Hollywood is fighting to remove your parental right to use content filtering technology for modern streaming devices.  They’ve convinced judges that you shouldn’t be able to use modern technologies to protect your family from material that you find harmful or offensive.

If we don’t act now, and if we don’t act together, we may lose that right forever. Please contact your senator to support your right to filter explicit content.

Legislation is being considered in Washington DC that will block the negative forces in Hollywood from taking away your right to use filtering technologies like VidAngel.  If that legislative remedy is to succeed, we need bipartisan support from the most influential legislators. That’s why your senator needs to hear from you today.

HOW YOU CAN PROTECT KIDS RIGHT NOW.  Please click on the link and send your personal plea to your Senator so that your rights to filter content are protected. It will only take a minute or two, but it will help you and your family for decades to come.

With urgent thanks,

Tim Winter

President

Parents Television Council

Quality over Quantity – VidAngel’s Take on Autoplay

Parents, Technology

In an effort to serve the needs of families over the needs of VidAngel, we have decided to give families the option to easily turn off the upcoming VidAngel “autoplay-the-next-episode” feature. Here’s why.

 

Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube go to great lengths to keep users on their websites for the longest time possible. They spend millions ensuring that every feature of their products is habit-forming (see Hooked: How to build Habit-Forming Products).

 

Thanks to Netflix’s autoplay, bedtime at my house is a battle. As the evening episode of “When Calls the Heart” ends, our girls fight to keep Mom or Dad away from the remote so that the next episode will begin. As parents, we usually find the autoplay feature to be a hindrance, not a help.

Netflix Autoplay: Next Episode Playing in 9 seconds

 

Has the Netflix autoplay feature had a net-positive impact on our world’s happiness and productivity? At VidAngel, we are hesitant to take a similar strategy.

 

Personally, I find media to be a good servant, but a bad master. I value media, not when it consumes my every minute, but when it helps me achieve my other life goals, such as:

 

  • – Love (seeing examples of healthy and unhealthy relationships)
  • – Learning (seeing examples of those who have been where I am, or where I want to go)
  • – Empathy (understanding those whose experiences are different from my own)
  • – Laughter (cultivating a light-hearted life)
  • – Or a Nap (resting easy without worrying that the little ones are getting into trouble)

 

Tristan Harris, founder of Time Well Spent,  also believes that media is a bad master. He argues that, rather than incentivizing binge watching and “show[ing] whatever keeps us scrolling”, the tech and media industry must instead begin “to put our best interests first.”

 

I want VidAngel to put the needs of families ahead of the needs of VidAngel. Meaning that customers who, like myself, wish to consume their media in moderation should not feel pressured to binge watch against their better judgment.

 

Although our team is currently working on an autoplay-next-episode feature for those who have asked for it, we have decided to use VidAngel to help achieve our media goals as families rather than simply copying Netflix’s.  Hence, our tech team will provide an easily available “disable autoplay” button. That’s something I’d like as a parent. We’ll also make it super easy to “enable autoplay” for those who are in the mood to binge. It’s up to you.

 

What do you think? Please share your thoughts or parental feature requests below in the comments. What would you love to have as a feature to your favorite family media app?

 

Even though the average American watches five hours of TV per day, we’re ok if VidAngel families get quality rather than quantity on their media experiences. Watch however the BLEEP you want.

Neal Harmon, Co-founder and Father of Eight 🙂

Can I expect VidAngel Studios content to be appropriate for me and my family?

FAQ, Parents

 

I am writing a response to a series of tweets I received from @Papabrose on Twitter. He was disappointed in Tim Timmerman, Hope of America because he felt like there were sections he would filter.  First off, thanks for voicing your concern.

 

Can I expect VidAngel Studios content to be appropriate for me and my family?

 

VidAngel aims to produce family-friendly while encouraging artists to give their best work. However, that does NOT necessarily mean an unfiltered VidAngel Studios movie will meet your family’s unique standards. In fact, I personally plan to set a few filters for my young children when we watch Tim Timmerman together.

 

If I had been the producer from the beginning, aiming to reach my own young family, I would have made the movie with a few changes. But then, all of my family are younger than high school age. Cameron Sawyer, the director, made this movie for a high school audience and older. In fact, Cameron is already adjusting one part of the film based on responses from me and the VidAngel Premiere audience on Wednesday.

 

This is a well-done indie film. Cameron has done a terrific job creating a film with an uplifting message about honesty, integrity, and the harms of exploiting others for political gain. Is the movie “family-friendly” for all audiences? No. So, as with any content, we advise parents to use discretion in deciding whether to view the movie with their families.

 

Audiences Are Responding Well

 

High schoolers love Tim Timmerman and adults feel nostalgic watching it. We’re at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes so far. Cameron did a wonderful job creating a movie to match his audience and we’re excited to back his film.  

 

Exciting Future

 

Next time we do a film, we can work with Cameron and his team from the beginning, and provide more feedback based on our filter data. Future filter data on this film will give Cameron insights into creating his next film. 

The feedback loop is a core advantage of VidAngel Studios content. This is something that all of us will learn to do better over time.

 

In Conclusion

Tim Timmerman is a funny, charming rom-com set in the nostalgic nineties and we’re thrilled to get behind it, but please review the data below before deciding to see it in theaters.

 

Thanks for supporting the premiere and voicing your concern @Papabrose! It gave me a great opportunity to explain how filtering will inform artists future work.

Best,

Neal Harmon

 

Why is this movie PG-13?

We’re surprised the MPAA rated this movie PG-13, and it will likely be one of the cleanest PG-13s you’ve ever seen.
What are the content warnings? Two instances of d*mn. Two instances of b*tch*n. Implied drug use – Tim grabs a joint from a fellow student to prevent him from smoking it. High school counselor has a creepy crush on Tim but he doesn’t seem to know it. Strapless and sleeveless dresses with some cleavage. Suggestive material – two high schoolers passionately make out in a van.

Why did VidAngel Publish Fifty Shades of Gray, Wolf of Wall Street and Game of Thrones?

Parents, tagging

UPDATE [9/29/2015]: We’ve just released a new feature that allows you to hide any movie on the VidAngel website. We will soon be extending this feature out to apps. This gives you and me more control over our VidAngel experience.

ORIGINAL: This is a question we’re commonly asked and that we were forced to ask ourselves before we decided to build VidAngel. In the beginning, as we grappled with this issue, we decided not to make VidAngel a moral authority for other people, but to create a community that empowers a broad range of people, cultures, moralities to be able to make better media decisions.

Personally, based on what I’ve heard, these movies seem like pornography with a story line. And the research about pornography and its impact on society is very well documented at Fight the New Drug. I don’t know if these have any story line left after being filtered, but the community seems to think so.

Even though VidAngel can cut out graphic sex, violence and profanity, that does not make a movie worth watching.

Check the tags of these movies and you’ll be able to quickly see if it matches your own personal standards. They absolutely don’t match mine. As a founder of VidAngel, I do not recommend these movies to families, even with a filter.

In fact, personally, I choose not to watch much of the content on VidAngel due to the nature of the movies. I’m kind of simple, but I really like movies that uplift me.

Here’s a reminder about VidAngel’s principles:

VidAngel Stands Against:

Justification To Watch More Bad Content:
If the content of the movie as a whole is against your standards, don’t use VidAngel to justify watching it.

Forced Censorship:
What you watch should be your choice in your home. Your neighbor will likely have different standards than you, and that is okay as long as you and your family don’t have to watch what everyone else watches.

No “Taking One For The Team”:
As a member of the VidAngel community, you agree to only participate in tagging movies/videos you would already watch without filtering. There are always other people who have different standards willing to filter the harder content. The ends don’t justify the means.

VidAngel Stands For:

More Choice:
VidAngel gives families a larger library of good content to choose from without compromising your family standards.

Watching More Good Content:
There are lots of films that have great messages, but often the filmmakers might have a different set of standards than you do. That’s okay. VidAngel allows you to enjoy the parts of their content you agree with, not worrying about breaking your own family rules.

To Summarize:
Members of the VidAngel community decided they wanted to tag these movies. They had already chosen to watch the movies in theaters or on HBO before they choose to tag them.

If a movie is released that no one in our community is willing to watch before tagging, then that movie will never be published on VidAngel. There’s no taking one for the team, period.

But I personally will never let my own family near this content and lots of other content. A lot of people would say I’m over the top. And for many, I am. But because I want the right to choose to watch both what and how I want, I also want to afford that right to others. Others will choose for themselves.

VidAngel is about empowering families and individuals to be able to make better content decisions, even if that means choosing not to watch movies with a filter.

Of course, we’re open to improving our policies based on community feedback.

Best regards,
– Neal Harmon, VidAngel Founder

47 percent of Parents are likely to use VidAngel

Parents

With our paintball video campaign, we’re getting a lot of questions, one of which is where is the data on almost half of families wanting our service. Well, here it is.

We surveyed 900 Americans using Google Consumer Surveys and asked them if they had children or teenagers at home. Then we asked them this question:

YouTube vs Movies Survey Summary

 

We’re building VidAngel for that 47 percent who are likely or very likely to use software that filters swearing and other inappropriate content out of streaming movies.